Abel Gance's silent film Napoleon is valued by film buffs today for its pioneering film techniques. Gance dabbled in color tinting, split screens, as well as Polyvision, a predecessor to Cinerama. The director filmed ultra-wide scenes three times and combined them in a wide-screen triptych.
However, the film's commercial release in 1927 was a disaster, and Gance destroyed much of the print in despair. Years later, film historian Kevin Browlow spent years recovering 5 ½ hours of the remaining film and restored it frame by frame to its original glory.
Francis Ford Coppola was so enamored when he saw the film that he coaxed his father, Carmine, to write a score for it. When the music was completed, Coppola chose BL&S to provide technical direction for the Radio City Music Hall premiere.
BL&S Principal and Director of Engineering Larry Shaw was the technical director. Three of Radio City's one-of-a-kind 35/70mm projectors were synchronized together by adding custom-made adapters, faithfully reproducing the triptych sequences. The event was a resounding success. Paolo Cherchi Usai, curator of the George Eastman House film archive, said, "My heart stopped when the triptych started."
The Radio City Music Hall shows were so well received that BL&S was retained to handle additional shows at the 6,000-seat art deco showplace.
Zoetrope Studios decided to take the show on the road, hiring BL&S to ensure optimal presentation at 23 venues around the world, from Francis Ford Coppola's vineyard in Napa Valley to the steps of the Coliseum in Rome to the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana, Cuba.
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